MEMORIES OF 'CUSE: Believe it or not, Kevin Ollie was a Syracuse fan while in high school. An older classmate at Crenshaw High, Stevie Thompson, went on to play for the Orange. "When I was at Crenshaw, I was a fan of Syracuse, so seeing Connecticut, seeing the Big East, seeing Georgetown, you hate to see it come to an end, but it's part of life," Ollie said. "You have to move on and I know our AD and our president are going to put us in a great situation going forward." Syracuse leads the all-time series 54-36.

THE ORANGE ZONE: Syracuse's length could pose problems for the smaller UConn guards. Michael Carter-Williams is a long-armed 6-foot-6 and shooting guard Brandon Triche stands 6-4. "They're long and the back wings play up real high to take away the wings' jump shot," said UConn guard Ryan Boatright. "¦ Once they get up, and they play that zone so well, it's hard to get back in the lead, so we want to come out with some fire and keep fighting until the end."

BIG EAST SUPERIORITY: Syracuse has won an astonishing 30 of its past 34 Big East games. Almost as surprising, UConn is 16-18 in that span.